Bilal

美国新灵魂乐歌手Bilal原名Bial Sayeed Oliver，1979年8月21日出生于美国费城。他同时还是团体Soulquarians的一员。
2001年，他发行了个人处子专辑《1st Born Second》，由Soulquarians和Dr. Dre等知名制作人参与制作，专辑获得好评，不过却没有获得太大的商业成功。他的假声演唱和即兴演唱是他的特点之一。接下来的几年里，Bilal不断为其 他艺人客串，比如Jay-Z的“Fallin'”，The Game的“Cali Sunshine”等，而他的第二张专辑《Love For Sale》原本计划在Interscope唱片公司发行，但是随后唱片公司推迟了发行时间，到最后将专辑完全冷藏，因为专辑的内容根本没有任何商业潜力可 挖，最后专辑在网络泄露。许多歌迷和乐评人士也对这样一张好专辑被这样处理感到非常悲哀。接着Bilal继续自己的巡回演出，并在2009年改签入 Plug Research唱片公司。 文/www.u-dig.cn
by Kerry Smith
For Bilal Sayeed Oliver, dreams started falling into place quite rapidly. A self-confessed jazz junkie from Philadelphia, PA, Bilal started out by singing in small clubs until he began training in jazz and big-band arrangements at the Mannes Music Conservatory in New York. With this formal training, the singer/songwriter learned to sing opera in seven languages. His debut album, 1st Born Second, is a collection of songs entirely by the artist himself, right down to the music, lyrics, and notes. His single "Soul Sista" appears on the Love & Basketball movie soundtrack. In addition, Bilal sang the hook on Common's "The 6th Sense" with neo-soul singer Jill Scott. He also scats and plays keyboards. Bilal has appeared on Common's Like Water for Chocolate, Guru's Jazzmatazz, Vol. 3: Street Soul, and has written and produced for the likes of Erykah Badu. Bilal, the same musician who has called jazz "the original booty shake," is also known for heaping truth in his music. Talks of record contracts came about when Bilal met brothers Fa and Damu Mtume, creators of Moyo Entertainment, in 1995 at a Philly barbershop. After hearing his demo, the Mtumes asked Bilal if he was interested in becoming a recording artist. Eventually Bilal moved to Brooklyn, NY, and began gigging around the city until his tape landed in the hands of Erykah Badu, for whose Mama's Gun album he appeared and produced. Bilal is a member of the Soulquarians collective, along with Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Q-Tip, and D'Angelo.